Furniture



March 28, 193%. R MUNROE 2,151,985

I FURNITURE Filed Nov. 10, 1957 2 INVENTOR.

Kwzrae MC Q44 ATTORNEY.

Patented Mar. 28, 1939 UNITED STATES 'FURNITURE Percy It. Munroe, Springfield, Mass, assignor to Berkshire Upholstered Furniture Company, Willimansett, Mass., a corporation of Massachusetts Application November 10, 1937, Serial No. 173,803

1 Claim.

This application relates to improvements in furniture.

The principal objects of the invention are dirooted to the provision of improvements in furniture characterized by separate unitary parts to facilitate economical manufacturing of the various units of an article of furniture and to facilitate ease and economy in assembling thereof.

According to present day manufacturing methods, an article such as a chair, divan or the like consists of a frame-work to which is applied the upholstery and this obviously entails labor. According to this invention, the upholstery is pro- 15 vided by means of separate units which are made up as unitary upholstering sections to be applied to the frame unit of the chair. In this way the frame units and upholstering units may be made up as separate units so as to be readily assembled together.

Various other novel features and advantages of the invention will be hereinafter more fully referred to in connection with the accompanying description of the present preferred form of the invention, reference being had to the drawing, wherein:

Fig. 1 is a front elevational view of one of the side members of a chair;

Fig. 2 is a side elevational View of the chair side member shown in Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a side or end elevational view of back member of the chair;

Fig. 4 is a rear elevational view of the back shown in Fig. 3;

35 Fig. 5 is a side elevational view of the seat member of the chair;

Fig. 6 is an inverted plan view of the seat shown in Fig. 5;

Fig. '7 is a sectional plan view on the line 11 of Fig. 3;

Fig. 8 is a perspective view of one of the upholstered units; and

Fig. 9 is a front elevational view of the chair.

Referring now to the drawing in detail the in- 45 vention will be fully described.

In Figs. 1 and 2 one side section of a chair is shown. This may have an arm portion 4 and consist of a frame structure carrying the upholstering. Bolts in project inwardly for connecting to the back section of a chair and bolts P2 are for connecting to the seat section. Holes 14 are provided to receive dowels of the seat section. The other side section is similar to that described.

A back section is shown in Figs. 3 and 4 and it 30 the consists of a frame having secured together up and down members [6 and upper and lower header members l8 and 20. An upholstery unit indicated generally by 22 is secured to the frame and the members l6 are provided with openings 24 to receive the bolts ID of the side sections.

A seat section has longitudinal frame parts 30 and forward and rear headers 32 and 34 suitably secured together. The members 30 are provided with holes 36 for receiving the bolts I2 of the side sections and dowels 38 extend from the members 30 for inserting in the holes l4 of the side sections. An upholstering unit represented by 40 is secured to the frame.

The upholstering unit 22 for the back and the unit 40 for the seat may be similar so that only one need be described in detail with reference to Figs. 3, 4, '7 and 8.

The unit 22 consists of a container having a forward portion 42 of some suitable covering material and a back portion 44 stitched together as indicated at 46. This unit may be filled by means of an upholstering machine.

In such a case, wadding or padding 50 and a spring unit 52 are enclosed in the container which is sewed upso that the back cushioning unit is a self contained unitary structure adapted to be secured to the frame in an easy manner. The unit may have flaps 54 and 56 which are secured to the frame members l8 and 20 by tacking or by any other suitable means.

The sides of the unit 22 are secured to the members I6 by tacking adjacent the line of stitching. By upholstering the unit 22 to the frame in the manner described, there is provided a complete back for the chair.

The seat upholstering unit 40, as previously stated, is similar to the upholstering unit for the back and it is tacked to the frame members of the seat similar to the way in which the upholstering unit 22 is secured to its frame work.

It will be observed that there are provided separate back and seat sections each of which consists of an upholstering unit that is secured to a frame thus making it possible not only to ship the chair in knocked-down condition but to facilitate ease and economy in manufacturing and as sembling.

In assembling the parts, the side sections have bolts extending through the openings provided in the members l6 and 30 and the parts are secured together by nuts in threaded engagement with the bolts. In this way a complete chair is provided as shown in Fig. 9.

While the invention has been described in connection with a chair, it will be understood that it is adapted for other articles of furniture.

Various changes and modifications may be made in the form of the invention Without cleparting from the spirit and scope thereof, therefore it is desired to be limited, if at all, by the following claim rather than by the foregoing description.

I claim:

A new knock-down article of furniture com prising in combination, a pair of spaced vertical side members, a vertical back section extending between the rear sides of the side members and including a relatively rigid vertically-disposed frame member of a certain length and a separate relatively non-rigid upholstering member consisting of a closed envelope of flexible material enclosing upholstering material and flexible flap portions extending upwardly and downwardly respectively from the upper and lower ends of said envelope, said envelope being of less length than said frame member and overlying the upper portion of said frame so that a lower portion of the latter extends below the envelope. the upper of said flexible flap portions being folded to overlie the upper side of said frame and the lower of said flap portions extending downwardly over the forward face of said lower portion of the frame member, both of the flap portions being secured to the frame, a horizontal seat section extending between the side members forwardly of said back section, and means detachably holding said seat and back sections and side members in upstanding assembled relation.

PERCY R. MUNROE. 

